An incredible 5 minutes of America which at one point the rhythm section held it tight while Robyn and Muppetman engaged in some nice long soloing. I talked with Paul the tour manager (super cool guy) and he said I could hook up to the sound board, but he thought I'd get a better sound with my Audio Technica AT822. The management at the bag was a bit stand-off-ish, and I was drunk. We decided to just get the audience recording. Plus the soundboard was way in the back and I wasn't gonna give up my excellent seat next to Carissa. Anyway the recording turned out just fine, and I'll get back to those of you who wanted to trade.

In my drunkeness I forgot to talk to Robyn, who was standing right next to me, after the show. I did talk with all of the lounge who were all cool cats. Have fun future feg show-ers. Robyn almost always comes out after the show, and either I'm still growing or Robyn's shrinking. I remember him being taller.

Brian


I've never been to the Magic Bag, in fashionable Ferndale, before. It's a nice club with groovy globe lighting and lots of places to sit. I arrived with my friends, proto-fegs Andy and Caroline, and sat in the back, where we observed the Departure Lounge's set. I thought they were all right, but somehow reminiscent of most of the other British pop I've heard lately. "Captain Keegan" wore a silly hat and Lindsay the drummer was very enthused.

The show began with just Robyn and his acoustic guitar, and he was gradually joined by more and more band members until the Rock Armada was fully in place. And damn, did they rock. Kimberly is an absolute hoot - I was literally laughing out loud every time I looked at him. He grins maniacally, makes goofy faces, bugs his eyes out, and appears to be physically attacking his guitar in an attempt to subdue it. He actually did a fairly good job of upstaging Robyn much of the time. Tim was very solemn, even when someone screamed "CAPTAIN KEEGAN!" During the second encore he came out without his goofy hat, revealing himself to be crop-haired and terribly cute. *sigh*

They played many of my favorites, including a rocking version of "Queen of Eyes" and a lovely rendition of "Airscape" (which Robyn did solo, with his electric guitar). This included a bit where Robyn stopped playing and sang the sad altered lyric a capella: "The quick explosion and release of sorrow." I was hoping they would play "Only the Stones Remain," and actually thought they were about to at one point, but it turned out to be "Adoration of the City," which I'd never heard before, and enjoyed. Robyn and Kimberly played a folk song together, called "Renardine" (sp?) - not quite up my alley, but interesting. "Antwoman" featured a guy from Departure Lounge playing oboe (for the "antvoices"), and the song rocked a lot more than it does on the album. The songs from Moss Elixir suffered a little without Deni Bonet, but Kimberly filled in quite nicely. They did not play "Glass Hotel," sad to say, but the show did end with - hooray!! - "Elizabeth Jade," which made me VERY happy.

After the show, I talked to the fegs and gave a couple of tinfoil figures to Kimberly - a human for him and an Anubis for Robyn. He was very friendly. Then we waited around in the lobby for Eddie to fetch his car - the plan was for him to follow us back to Ann Arbor, crash with me and then be on my radio show the next morning. While we waited, I observed that cute Mr. Keegan talking to people, and went over to shake his hand, resisting the temptation to smooth down the cowlicks left over from taking off his hat. Eddie arrived and we were getting ready to leave when a tall shaggy-haired figure entered the lobby. I enquired of Robyn whether he had received his Anubis. He said yes, and said he had managed to get the Thoth I had given him in July back to England in one piece. I mentioned how he had said his hand was clammy when I met him in Chicago, and he said, "Well, I exude all sorts of fluids on a regular basis." "I would be worried if you didn't," I said. He seemed very happy with the show and went on about what a good place Detroit is to play. He went on chatting with fans until the management kicked us all out.

n., wishing I could go to Cincinnati, too…